| Fig. 5.—A, Alauda arborea; B, Certhilauda; C, Melanocorypha calandra. |
In the Old World larks are found in most parts of the Palaearctic, Ethiopian and Indian regions; but only one genus, Mirafra, inhabits Australia, where it is represented by, so far as is ascertained, a single species, M. horsfieldi; and there is no true lark indigenous to New Zealand. In the New World there is also only one genus, Otocorys, where it is represented by many races, some of which closely approach the Old World shore-lark, O. alpestris. The shore-lark is in Europe a native of only the extreme north, but is very common near the shores of the Varanger Fjord, and likewise breeds on mountain-tops farther south-west, though still well within the Arctic circle. The mellow tone of its call-note has obtained for it in Lapland a name signifying “bell-bird,” and the song of the cock is lively, though not very loud. The bird trustfully resorts to the neighbourhood of houses, and even enters the villages of East Finmark in search of its food. It produces at least two broods in the season, and towards autumn migrates to lower latitudes in large flocks. These have been observed in winter on the east coast of Great Britain, and the species instead of being regarded, as it once was, in the light of an accidental visitor to the United Kingdom, must now be deemed an almost regular visitor, though in very varying numbers. The observations on its habits made by Audubon in Labrador have long been known, and often reprinted. Other congeners of this bird are the O. penicillata of south-eastern Europe, Palestine and central Asia—to which are referred by H. E. Dresser (B. Europe, iv. 401) several other forms originally described as distinct. All these birds, which have been termed horned larks, from the tuft of elongated black feathers growing on each side of the head, form a little group easily recognized by their peculiar coloration, which calls to mind some of the ringed plovers, Aegialitis.
The name of lark is also frequently applied to many birds which do not belong to the Alaudidae as now understood. The mud-lark, rock-lark, tit-lark and tree-lark are pipits (q.v.). The grasshopper-lark is one of the aquatic warblers (q.v.), while the so-called meadow-lark of America is an Icterus (q.v.). Sand-lark and sea-lark are likewise names often given to some of the smaller members of the Limicolae. Of the true larks, Alaudidae, there may be perhaps about one hundred species, and it is believed to be a physiological character of the family that they moult but once in the year, while the pipits, which in general appearance much resemble them, undergo a double moult, as do others of the Motacillidae, to which they are most nearly allied.
(A. N.)
[1] By assigning far too great an importance to this superficial character (in comparison with others), C. J. Sundevall (Tentamen, pp. 53-63) was induced to array the larks, hoopoes and several other heterogeneous groups in one “series,” to which he applied the name of Scutelliplantares.
LARKHALL, a mining and manufacturing town of Lanarkshire, Scotland, near the left bank of the Clyde, 1 m. S.E. of Glasgow by the Caledonian railway. Pop. (1901) 11,879. The highest bridge in Scotland has been thrown across the river Avon, which flows close by. Brick-making is carried on at several of the adjoining collieries. Other industries include bleaching, silk-weaving, fire-clay and enamelling works, and a sanitary appliances factory. The town has a public hall and baths.
LARKHANA, a town and district of British India, in Sind, Bombay. The town is on a canal not far from the Indus, and has a station on the North-Western railway, 281 m. N. by E. of Karachi. It is pleasantly situated in a fertile locality, and is well laid out with wide streets and spacious gardens. It is a centre of trade, with manufactures of cotton, silk, leather, metal-ware and paper. Pop. (1901) 14,543.